Tiny Island Makes Huge Decision On Same-Sex Marriage

A tiny island has just made a huge decision – to legalise same-sex marriage.

The change in law on the Channel Island of Alderney was voted through at a States meeting this week.

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There are approximately 2000 people who live on the island, which is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency.

Alderney resident Alan Jones said the law would bring the island “into the 21st century”.

Mr Jones and his partner Dits Preece (pictured) are members of the island’s small openly gay community, thought to number around 20, and plan to be the first same-sex couple to marry in Alderney.

The law will be enacted after it is approved by the Queen and her Privy Council, which is a constitutional formality.

Following the decision, Mr Jones and Mr Preece said islanders were asking when they were going to marry on a “daily” basis.

“It was always my greatest thrill and I always wanted to marry Allen on the island, when I first moved here 13 years ago,” Mr Preece said.

“Having heard the news it’s so exciting, I’m just over the moon about it.

“I think that with it now being passed and they’re going ahead, that it’s opened the doors to lots more couples who would wish to come to Alderney and be married here and make it their holiday at the same time.”

The first same-sex marriages in the UK took place in 2014, but the laws for England, Scotland and Wales do not apply to the Channel Islands.